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The Idea of the Week
Psychology Today shares how Taking a Walk Will Boost Your Creativity and Problem-Solving (a 7-minute article). You may have heard of many artists and their routines before they create, such as a morning run, writing morning pages, or engaging in other physical activities.
According to Psychology Today, though, you don’t have to dedicate a whole morning or work up an intense sweat to reap the benefits of walking. The article shares that
- Walking is more powerful than sitting for generating creative ideas.
- You don’t need a long walk to boost creativity. Short walks will also work! Anywhere from 5-16 minutes can be helpful to boost the brain.
- The creative impact of walking occurs during the walk and continues afterward! So, prime your creativity or thinking by going for a short walk first.
- Walking indoors works just as well as walking outside. Although you likely won’t see the beauty of nature outdoors, this is helpful if you can’t or don’t want to go outside.
The Practice of the Week
So, we know that walking and movement is great for the brain, but we’re busy people so how do we fit this into an already packed day? The short and quick, yet sometimes hard to achieve, answer is to make time for movement. The way you make time for movement will look different from someone else.
The idea is to incorporate movement into your routine, not add something more stressful to your life. Invite movement to become a non-negotiable, or something that you cannot give up in your day. Some ways you may want to incorporate movement could include:
- Take a 5-minute walk around your home with your cup of coffee.
- Incorporate a 5-minute walk into your work day, such as going to someone else’s office for a meeting, or taking a walk to get your lunch.
- Use the pomodoro technique with movement: work for 25-50 minutes, then take a 5-minute movement break to stretch, jog in place, go for a walk, or do jumping jacks.
- Invite a friend or colleague into your movement goal and create a challenge with each other to see who gets the most steps in a day.
- Use a standing desk for office work. If you have the budget, there are also walking pads or treadmills that fit under your desk so you can walk while you work.
- Take the stairs instead of the elevator when you can.
- Park further away from the entrance so you get those extra steps.
- Or, if possible, try swapping out your car for a bike ride to work.
- Make your meetings a walking meeting. Instead of sitting at a desk or table for your meeting, take your colleagues for a walk around the building, parking lot, or down the street while you conduct your business meeting.
In this 9-minute video, Dr. Tracey Marks explains how exercise can help manage ADHD symptoms, whether it’s 5 minutes of movement or a 30-minute strength training. She offers practical steps to start incorporating movement into your routine. At the end of the video, she also suggests exercises to help with particular symptoms, such as trouble maintaining focus or feel hyperactive before working on a task.
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The Thought of the Week
Wishing you a peaceful week!
